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Hedy Weiss biography
Hedy Weiss has been Theater and Dance Critic of the Chicago Sun-Times since 1984, reporting on local, national and international productions, as well as a …
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ACT II: A second look at area stages 10.28.12
Dancers are high-propulsion machines; that’s a given. For proof, just check out the Joffrey Ballet’s final performance of its fall program — three very different works under the umbrella title “Human Landscapes” — Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Auditorium Theatre. But there also is …Read More
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Mike Birbiglia plays ‘Boyfriend’ perfectly
No written description can do full justice to the spirit of actor-comedian-writer Mike Birbiglia and what he does in his winningly honest, ruefully funny, seamlessly performed show, “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend.” Sure, you can explain that the thirtysomething Birbiglia — now in a nearly sold-out engagement …Read More
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‘QED’ a tour de force for Rob Riley
Spending a solid 90 minutes perched on the edge of the brain of a genius might not be a restful exercise. But if the brain in question happens to belong to that highly original, playfully unorthodox, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, it is a sure …Read More
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Bonnie Metzgar to resign from About Face Theater
Bonnie Metzgar, who has served for five years as artistic director of About Face Theatre (AFT) — one of the nation’s largest, not-for-profit “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and ally (LGBTQA) missioned theaters” — will step down from her position at the end of …
Hard lives of itinerant actors, junkies on display in ‘Trainspotting’ and ‘Pigeon House’
Heroin addicts in the contemporary Midwest, and traveling players in Ireland and England over many decades. Let it never be said that Chicago theater doesn’t run the gamut of human experience, or have something for everyone. Here’s a look at two recently opened productions that …
Natasha Lowe subs for Lane in ‘Sweet Bird’
Chicago actress Natasha Lowe, acclaimed for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in the David Cromer-directed revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Writers’ Theatre several seasons back, filled in for film star Diane Lane at Wednesday’s matinee performance of Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” …
Jan Kallish exiting Victory Gardens Theater
Jan Kallish, who has served as executive director of the Victory Gardens Theater since 2009, and helped oversee a major period of transition at the organization, will be leaving her position at the end of November. General manager Chris Mannelli will assume her duties while …
Goodman cancels ‘Sweet Bird’ performance due to Diane Lane illness
Oct. 24’s performance of “Sweet Bird of Youth” at the Goodman Theater has been canceled because of star Diane Lane’s laryngitis. Lane is expected to return to the show on Oct. 25. The Goodman has called and emailed as many of the more than 800 …
Neveu’s ‘The Opponent’ a knockout at A Red Orchid
HEDY WEISS: A boxer subtly learns success is not in the cards in this terrifically muscular world premiere.
‘Lucy’ show will return, after ‘Potted Potter’
“I Love Lucy, Live On Stage,” currently running at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut, will be taking a brief “station break” after its Nov. 11 performance. The production, a music-infused reinvention of two classic “I Love Lucy” programs, will close …
‘Spank!’, musical parody of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ to be tied to Royal George
Prepare for some naughtiness. And don’t you dare say you didn’t know it was coming.
In ‘Wasteland,’ a stranger’s voice saves POW jailed in a hole
HEDY WEISS: New play at TimeLine Theatre finds beautiful moments of truth in a challenging setting — one actor on stage, another only heard.
‘50 Shades of Grey’ gets a second Chicago parody
A bestseller (and the sale of 32 million copies of a book certainly qualifies) invariably breeds parodies, as well as “a major motion picture.” And so it is with “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the first in a trilogy of sexually trangressive novels by British writer …
Steppenwolf play aimed at students, but complex ideas abound
HEDY WEISS: Audiences of all ages can appreciate the issues in ‘The Book Thief,’ about a vulnerable German girl in World War II.
Dancing + drama = dazzling Joffrey ‘Landscapes’
Anyone who has seen the Joffrey Ballet perform in recent seasons knows that it is dancing better than ever. But with “Human Landscapes,” its current program of three works, the company demonstrates that it easily can go head-to-head (or foot-to-foot) with the finest of this …
ACT II: A closer look at area stages — ‘QED’
You don’t need to be a physicist to understand the pure magnetism of Richard Feynman (1918-1988), the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has been described as “one of the greatest minds since Einstein.” In fact, you can easily go to YouTube and listen to the man …
Cerrudo’s high-flying ‘Pieces’ an extraordinary window into Chagall’s brilliance
By sheer coincidence, two of the most widely recognized works in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago can now be seen as works for the stage. At the Chicago Shakespeare Theater there is Stephen Sondheim’s masterful musical inspired by “A Sunday Afternoon on …
Feel-good ‘Kinky Boots’ is a step in the ‘Billy Elliot’ direction
HEDY WEISS: In the engaging Broadway-bound musical by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein, more working-class Brits leave their comfort zone and thrive as a result.
‘Book Thief’ author stealing into Chicago
In conjunction with its world premiere stage adaptation of “The Book Thief,” the Steppenwolf Theatre for Young Adults show that opens Saturday afternoon, Australian writer Markus Zusak, the international bestselling author of the novel that also has been chosen as the Fall 2012 “One Book, …
‘One Name Only’ sizzles at Black Ensemble Theater
With its wholly sensational world premiere of writer-director Rueben Echoles’ “One Name Only (A Different Kind of Reality Show),” the Black Ensemble Theater (BET) has worked a substantial miracle. In this single production it has not only managed to hold on to all the best …
